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Motivating Staff

Fortune Magazine has a fascinating series of articles about China in their most recent issue (which should still be on the stands - so go get it).

Most of the articles are on the website here although you may need a subscription to read them all.

One article that isn't on the site is about the huge city of Chongqing which is in Western China.

One Chinese entrepreneur featured in this article is a man named Yin Minshan who is the 66 year old founder and president of a company called Lifan which makes motorcycles.

Yin's method of motivating his staff? A sign over the front entrance that reads:

"IF YOU DO NOT WORK HARD TODAY, YOU WILL SEEK FOR JOB VERY HARD TOMORROW"

Yikes!

I don't think you could get away with that here in Canada.

BTW last year Lifan made a pre-tax profit of 15 million on sales of 553 million. The company now has foreign sales of 200 million and already has a factory in Vietnam with plans to open plants in India, Pakistan and Bulgaria. I guess the sign works.